Alumni Sara Barth and Mark Zankel encouraged students at the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) to take seriously the challenges climate change presents to land conservation policies and practices in the United States.

Barth said climate change is generating more attention than any other environmental issue ever has in her professional career. "That's transformative, in and of itself, to have this many politicians talking about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Barth said. "We think it's time for a parallel discussion to begin regarding land conservation and climate change." Added Zankel: "The link between climate change and land conservation is very strong and very powerful."

Barth (M.S. '94) is regional director of The Wilderness Society's California/Nevada Region. Zankel (M.S. '94) is deputy director for The Nature Conservancy's New Hampshire Chapter. He also serves on SNRE's Visiting Committee, which is comprised of alumni and friends. They returned to the University of Michigan campus to give a joint lecture as part of SNRE's annual event honoring its newest Doris Duke Conservation Fellows.

The lecture - titled "Beyond Cap and Trade: The Transformative Impact of Climate Chance on Land Conservation in the U.S." - wasn't the first time Barth and Zankel presented together inside the Dana Building. The pair was part of a six-student master's project team in 1994 that presented a paper titled "Exploring the Theory and Application of Ecosystem Management."

In their lecture Friday (March 28), they blended their different perspectives and experiences on the issues. Zankel brought his experience working for the nation's largest land trust and conservation organization (The Nature Conservancy), where he is currently focused on the Northeast; Barth brought hers with a highly respected and successful advocacy organization (The Wilderness Society) focused on the American West. Today, they and their organizations are rethinking principles and strategies associated with land conservation and public lands policy due to the likely impacts of climate change.

Across the country, the initial impacts of climate change are evident in many ecosystems. Less obvious is the fact that climate change is forcing policymakers, land managers, scientists and advocates to fundamentally rethink their approach to land conservation. Climate change is bringing a host of unprecedented and sweeping threats even to landscapes once thought "protected." The solutions to these threats require radically different ways of thinking, and a re-examination of some sacrosanct beliefs.

Among the questions being raised by climate change on land conservation practices:

• Are the Endangered Species Act and the Wilderness Act still relevant in their current forms?
• Should society question the ways it has defined conservation value for land protection?
• Do we need to redefine what land conservation success means due to climate change?
• How should non-government organizations (NGOs) and public agencies change their land conservation strategies to adapt to climate change?

"As a community, land conservationists have been slower to address this issue," Barth said. And the reasons are plentiful: a perception that the threat is overwhelming; a lack of clear solutions; uncertainty regarding the projected impacts of climate change on specific landscapes; and a lack of appropriate policy tools.

Barth said laws such as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which calls for a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions statewide and a 25 percent reduction by 2020, are beginning to have significant impacts on land conservation. One such area is in the deployment of wind and solar farms, which the law embraces as part of a renewable energy solution. However, many of these renewable energy sources have other harmful environmental impacts.í‚   Vast solar arrays, for instance, have been proposed for development on sensitive desert lands in California.

"I think we'll see carbon sequestration become a driver of land management practices," Barth said. "Whether you want to deal with carbon or not, it is coming at us."

In California and Nevada - the regions Barth serves for The Wilderness Society í‚ ­- the effects of climate change are already producing serious issues. Less snow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range - the source of 65 percent of all Californians' drinking water - could mean the costly construction of new dams and reservoirs. In addition, the ranges of the blue oak and valley oak are projected to change as the trees adapt to climate change, she said.

Compounding the problem is a growing tension between the global benefits and real environmental costs of new policies and economies driven by climate change, Zankel said. He cited the demand for biofuels, which is seen as part of a national renewable energy solution, but which has resulted in the large-scale conversion of farm and natural lands. Millions of new acres of corn were planted last year to meet biofuel demand - land, he says, that for the most part had been managed for conservation-related or food supply purposes. "If we're accelerating deforestation or converting grasslands to produce biofuels, we may not achieve the intended carbon impact reductions while also ending up with a net loss when it comes to habitat conservation," he said.

After their on-campus lecture, Barth and Zankel were featured again as keynote speakers at a reception and dinner at the Michigan League for the school's 10 Doris Duke Conservation Fellows for 2007-2009. In addition, SNRE recognized its two 2007-2009 Wyss Conservation Scholars.

Barth and Zankel also were participants in the school's first-ever Career Fair, which introduced 19 prospective employers to students. (Another SNRE alumnus participating at Career Fair was Stephanie Bertaina, who is a Presidential Management Fellow for the USDA Forest Service.)